


That's Messed Up Right? [RECOVERED VERSION]

by Crowdog



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, do not copy to other sites
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2020-09-06 12:48:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20291707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowdog/pseuds/Crowdog
Summary: A long time ago in the year 2017, I tried to write a fanfic. My username was Cowichan and I was an idiot. You see, I thought writing was easy and I had an idea for my favorite canon ship Leorai. I had an idea that after the episode Enemy of My Enemy, Leo would seek out Karai to apologize only to walk in after she was raped by The Shredder. I titled it "That's Messed Up Right?" and I publish my first chapter. Why is this important? Well, I deleted it. It was bad I wasn't going to continue it. I didn't know I could just orphan it, I wish I had done that. About 3 months later, I changed my username to Crowdog and I posted a fluffy one shot. Then... I got a lot of nice comments and it helped me regain the self confidence to maybe go back to that idea for a Leorai fic.So on March 28th, 2018 I posted the first chapter of "Teenage Wasteland" which I later re-titled "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together".At first I feared people would read "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together" and remember its poorly written predecessor...1) I greatly overestimated the fanbase "That's Messed Up Right?" had.2)  I changed "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together" from it's original concept so much even I am surprised by what the hell I wrote back then.Here's the thing. I deleted "That's Messed Up Right?", it's gone. I found it on the Wayback machine and took this screen shot of what it looked like in January 28th, 2018:Maybe you remember this fic?Well the plotthickens.I was very bothered by this screenshot because I don't remember anything about this fic, not really. I truly wanted it wiped from the earth. Well.. guess what I found in the trash bin of my Google Drive?The whole entire fic. All 10k words of it.That's right, the first version of this fic is alive and well and it's fucking insane. What was I thinking? Where was I going? I would pay good money to have a phone call with 2017 me.So I ran through it, checked it for spelling and grammar, I changed nothing about the plot. I added no details.I have back posted it so it won't be on the main page (you can choose a different publication date when you publish thank you AO3). I chose the date from the screenshot but I am actually writing this on August 18th, 2019. I have gone out of my way to not put a summary, tag it or give any one a reason to click it. For the love of god I don't actually want you to read it, but I thought you know... without this disaster of a fic... I wouldn't have started over with "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together". So, I'm going to put it back up. I'm never going to continue it. I will never touch it again.Literally, just so in a way, I know where I came from... I'm posting this 3 chapter abandoned work as one piece. If you want to read it, go ahead. The writing in "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together" is much better though.September 24th, 2019 EDIT: I found the unpublished 4th chapter on my school email. I have added it.





	That's Messed Up Right? [RECOVERED VERSION]

**Author's Note:**

> A long time ago in the year 2017, I tried to write a fanfic. My username was Cowichan and I was an idiot. You see, I thought writing was easy and I had an idea for my favorite canon ship Leorai. I had an idea that after the episode Enemy of My Enemy, Leo would seek out Karai to apologize only to walk in after she was raped by The Shredder. I titled it "That's Messed Up Right?" and I publish my first chapter. Why is this important? Well, I deleted it. It was bad I wasn't going to continue it. I didn't know I could just orphan it, I wish I had done that. About 3 months later, I changed my username to Crowdog and I posted a fluffy one shot. Then... I got a lot of nice comments and it helped me regain the self confidence to maybe go back to that idea for a Leorai fic.
> 
> So on March 28th, 2018 I posted the first chapter of "Teenage Wasteland" which I later re-titled "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together".
> 
> At first I feared people would read "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together" and remember its poorly written predecessor...  
1) I greatly overestimated the fanbase "That's Messed Up Right?" had.  
2) I changed "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together" from it's original concept so much even I am surprised by what the hell I wrote back then.
> 
> Here's the thing. I deleted "That's Messed Up Right?", it's gone. I found it on the Wayback machine and took this screen shot of what it looked like in January 28th, 2018:  

> 
> Maybe you remember this fic?
> 
> Well the plot **thickens**.
> 
> I was very bothered by this screenshot because I don't remember anything about this fic, not really. I truly wanted it wiped from the earth. Well.. guess what I found in the trash bin of my Google Drive?
> 
> The whole entire fic. All 10k words of it.
> 
> That's right, the first version of this fic is alive and well and it's fucking insane. What was I thinking? Where was I going? I would pay good money to have a phone call with 2017 me.
> 
> So I ran through it, checked it for spelling and grammar, I changed nothing about the plot. I added no details.
> 
> I have back posted it so it won't be on the main page (you can choose a different publication date when you publish thank you AO3). I chose the date from the screenshot but I am actually writing this on August 18th, 2019. I have gone out of my way to not put a summary, tag it or give any one a reason to click it. For the love of god I don't actually want you to read it, but I thought you know... without this disaster of a fic... I wouldn't have started over with "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together". So, I'm going to put it back up. I'm never going to continue it. I will never touch it again.
> 
> Literally, just so in a way, I know where I came from... I'm posting this 3 chapter abandoned work as one piece. If you want to read it, go ahead. The writing in "The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together" is much better though.
> 
> September 24th, 2019 EDIT: I found the unpublished 4th chapter on my school email. I have added it.

“I want to know why you were with Karai last night!” Raph slammed his fist on the creaky breakfast table. Leo stared into his mug of tea. “Leo!” Raph barked.

A bit of tea leaf spun in his tea, and Leo watched it like it was the most important thing in the world, he knew Raph was mad, but Leo was also mad, he just didn’t have the luxury of having a meltdown like his slightly younger brother.

“Alright, stick in your shell, but when Splinter gets back, all three of us are going to tell him what we saw last night.” Raph spat.

“And what did you guys see last night?” Leo said to his mug of tea, still not making eye contact with Raph.

“We saw you had Karai in bed with no pants, good luck explaining that to Splinter” Raph gave a disgusted snort and left his leader alone in the kitchen to continue staring at his tea.

The little bit of tea leaf sat still now at the bottom of his cup, Leo took a sip of the tepid liquid and stirred up the bit of tea leaf in the process. Leo took one hand off his cup of tea and undid his mask.

* * *

Leo knew he wasn’t thinking about this plan, because there was no plan. There was no speech or endgame, he didn’t know what would happen if he actually got her to listen to him. Does he apologize for trying to kill her father? Is he even sorry he did try to kill her father?

Of course there was a thunderstorm tonight. Leo cursed, thunderstorms are a blessing and a curse to a ninja. The added noise can be great for sneaking around, but at the cost of everything being slippery and wet. When Leo was a few blocks away from the church Shredder hides out in, Leo had a real conflict. _ Where the hell does Karai sleep? _

Leo felt as though he floated into the hideout, his anxiety about doing this was through the roof, it was taking a lot to stay calm and collected. One wrong move and Leo knew he was outmatched. Karai herself could likely take him down, and Karai plus any of the Foot would definitely be his end. It also didn't help that every clap of thunder made his blood pressure spike.

He continued to poke around the hideout, until finally he found Karai’s bedroom, and surprisingly it was on the exact opposite side of the hideout where Shredder was sleeping. Or at least he assumed the large room with the king sized bed with walls of different Shredder esque armor was indeed the Shredder’s bedroom. The door to Karai’s bedroom started to open and Leo made it quickly into the shadows. Catching a startled breath when it was the Shredder leaving Karai’s room. He walked down the hall and turned the corner, Leo listened to his footsteps become distant.

Leo then started to rehearse what he was going to say to Karai. He was going to make her understand that they didn’t mean for things to happen the way they did. But Karai has never let him get more than a few words out before trying to take off his shell. “Stop being a coward, and go in there” Leo mouthed to himself. It was still another twenty minutes before he actually worked up the nerve to go in there. He opened the door, slipped in and closed the door silently behind him in one fluid motion. Once in the room he could hear the rain hitting the window on the opposite side of the room.

“Karai?” Leo whispered at a barely audible volume. The room was dark, but the blinds were open letting the street light from outside cast a light on the room. Underneath the window, about a foot lower was a queen sized bed. To the left of the bed there was a dresser up against the wall, on the right there was a nightstand. A door closer to the entrance of the bedroom held a personal bathroom, complete with a tub, sink and toilet.

“Karai?” Leo whispered again but this time he stepped closer to the bed, he assumed the form curled tightly into the fetal position with one pillow under her head and another pillow being hugged close to her chest was Karai. As weird as she looks to him wearing a nightgown and having removed her eye make up.

“Karai” Leo played with his fingers nervously “I’m so sorry about this evening….I…” but his throat closed and he didn’t know what to say. Karai didn’t move, he watched her for a second, her eyes were open, and her breathing was calm. Did she know he was here? “Karai, we...we just thought it was our chance to end this, had we known he was...your dad we wouldn’t have tried to... _ kill _ him” Leo cringed at his own words.

“Get out of here Leo” Karai said, her voice was scratchy and hollow. She didn’t move her position or look at him. She stared at the wall and continued to hug her pillow.

“I’m sorry, Karai” Leo said again, in a childish way he wanted it to be this simple, to say sorry and then they’ll go back to being frenemies.

“I get it” Karai shifted under the covers, putting Leo on edge until he realized she was just pulling the covers up over her exposed shoulder “You’re sorry you tried to kill my dad because now I am mad at you, not because you are actually sorry you tried to kill my dad” Leo felt his heart twist.

“Had we known he was your dad we-”

“-wouldn’t have tried to kill him. Yeah yeah, you got anything in that shell of yours that I don’t know?” Karai’s voice was stronger now, but not much louder than casual talking. “Well I’m sorry you failed to kill my dad”.

“If you knew that, then why didn’t you tell us” Leo was agitated now. He also was on the verge of crying, but if he did that in front of Karai the kunoichi would never let him forget it.

“I wanted you to succeed” she said dully.

Leo was shocked “then why did you immediately attack us after we landed a hit on Shredder!?”

“Because, until he actually dies, I have to defend him” Karai now turned her head to look up at Leo “there are consequences if I don’t play this role right". She sighed as if explaining this to him was a chore "I gave the four of you a piece of information hidden in a piece of information and you used it exactly as you were supposed to. I told you ahead of time where the Shredder was going to be hoping you’d betray my trust and try to kill him” Karai looked back at the wall “But the Krang showed up, and things got out of hand.”

“You...you used us?” Leo face contorted “You want us to kill your dad?”

“I know. That’s messed up right?”

* * *

Leo washed out his tea cup, and set it in the drainer. He picked his mask up off the table and left the kitchen, letting the curtain fall silently behind him.

“Where are you off to now?” Raph asked. He was indignant.

“I am going to take a shower, Raph” this time Leo looked him in the eye and Raph was taken aback. Leo had his mask off and his expression was blank and empty. “If that’s okay with you.” Before Raph could muster up a response Leo walked away in the direction of the bathroom.

“Raph..” Donnie started to speak.

“Yeah, I saw his face Donnie” Raph sighed.

“What was wrong with his face?” Mikey asked.

“He looks like a freaking Krang droid, no emotion.” Raph was more confused now.

“I mean, he doesn’t act like someone who just got caught red handed doing...you know, to Karai” Donnie added.

“Okay, when will you guys tell me what he was doing with Karai?” Mikey demanded.

Donnie and Raph looked at each other, and in silent agreement Raph tried to put the situation delicately to Mikey “Leo and Karai were doing something that Master Splinter would be very ashamed of.”

Mikey continued to stare at Raph, none of this seeming to mean anything to the young turtle.

Donnie tried to add to Raph’s explanation with “...Leo was in bed, with Karai, and she wasn’t wearing pants...”

Mikey looked confused for a second then covered his mouth, then uncovered his mouth and before Raph or Donnie could stop him exclaimed with far too much volume “LEO HAD SEX WITH KARAI?”

“And where is Leonardo right now, my sons?” All three turtles felt their hearts skip a beat.

* * *

“I mean, yeah that’s messed up” Leo agreed, still confused at how this conversation was going “but then again he is...you know, The Shredder”

Karai smirked. “You’re cute when you’re confused,” she remarked. Karai sat up, slowly and swung her legs over the side of the bed, he could see the outline of her arm reach to her nightstand and the sound of a click before the room was flooded with a warm yellow glow.

As his eyes adjusted to the light he didn’t think before pointing out “Karai, there’s blood on your be-”

“Hush!” she hissed at him, she turned her head to look at the small pool of blood on her bed “damn, hope the towel got it all”. She stood up slowly.

“Karai you have blood on your gown- you’re blee-” Leo started again too loud.

“Hush! Damn Leo, you’ll wake up The Shredder and every one in this place!” Karai sounded annoyed. She carefully picked up the towel and wrapped it up, she then slowly walked to her bathroom. Leo saw the blood streaming down the inside of her legs. She managed to get into the bathroom and close the door without getting a single drop on the floor.

Leo didn’t know a whole lot about human females, but Splinter did tell them some basics about reproduction. Was Karai in her period? He looked out the window to be polite, it was still pouring.

His thoughts were interrupted by Karai coming out of the bathroom, and without the blood Leo took note of things he didn’t notice before. Her wrists were bruised, her neck also had a nasty bruise. Since Karai had changed from the nightgown to a long T-Shirt and underwear he could see her thighs were bruised.

“Promise me you’ll think about this later when you’re alone” she teased cynically. Leo’s face turned redder than Raph’s mask.

“Wow, never knew someone so green could ever get that red” she laughed at his humiliation, she was walking gingerly to her bed, every step etched pain on her face, until her knee gave out under her and she started to fall forward. Leo didn’t think about how to catch her, so before he knew it he was awkwardly holding her half up, one arm under her ribcage, the other holding on to her right forearm.

“Uhhh” Leo was far too awkward for this “Uhh let’s just uhh keep walking towards the bed.”

“Oh I was thinking about hea...heading downtown, but...your idea is better” Karai had to try hard to get that sentence out, but it was well worth it.

Leo lowered her to the side of the bed and then stepped back “uh can I uh, get you anything?” he was still red in the face. But Karai’s eyes were closed as she sat on the edge of her bed breathing slowly.

“No Leo, all I need is a shower in the morning” she said quietly.

* * *

The water pounded on his shell, and he felt the vibration through his chest. He took a washcloth and soaped it up. He began scrubbing his head, and neck.

Normally, the accusation of him having done something inappropriate with Karai would have Leo immediately jumping to defend himself, and shouting at Raph for even suggesting it.

However, ever since stepping foot back into the lair this morning, Leo just simply didn’t care what happened to him. He kept replaying the events of last night over and over.

He didn’t know what he would tell Splinter exactly. He didn’t even know if it mattered. Leo was set on seeing Karai again tonight. If was one promise he could keep to her.

* * *

They lingered there in silence. Karai’s breathing was the only sound in the room. “How did you get those bruises, Karai?”

“Hmm? Oh, at the docks” she replied with no attachment to the situation.

“No you didn’t, who at the docks strangled you?” Leo knew he was on thin ice, asking questions he had no right to ask.

Karai didn’t say anything for a bit, she let the rain fill the silence as she thought her response through carefully. “Remember how I told you there are consequences?” Karai voice started to break “well I guess my role today at the docks wasn’t very convincing.”

“Karai…” Leo was piecing this together and the picture was horrifying “...what did he do?”

“Just go home Leo” she sighed.

Leo was angry now, he walked to the side of her bed and crouched down in front of her “tell me what he did to you” he could see her face now, her eyes were closed but her face was blank, she looked tired.

“Just go home Leo” She lifted her legs onto her bed and got under the covers.

Leo stayed put, right where he was.

“Please go” she sounded so worn out. Leo didn’t respond. He instead sat on the floor, turned round and propped the back of his shell against the side of her bed.

“Yeah, not happening” Leo asserted.

Karai groaned. “You’re so stubborn.”

No reply came from the shelled creature sitting next to her bed.

“Are you going to sit there all night until I tell you what happened?”

“No, I am going to sit here all night regardless of whether or not you tell me what happened” Leo said flatly, hoping he was hiding his anger.

“Alright then” Karai said. He heard her moving and felt the mattress move. Karai was now on only the left side of the queen size mattress. Leo looked over his shell at her. “If you are staying the night at least get on the bed”

Leo’s face was red again, “what?”

“You heard me” she patted the space “come on…”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“Please?”

* * *

“Sensei, let us explain” Raph couldn’t believe he was doing this, defending Leo after what he saw.

“I am listening” Sensei said calmly.

“We...we thought Leo was having....you know, with Karai but...I don’t think-” Raph was at a loss for words.

“He doesn’t act like it,” Donnie said. “He seems really sad actually, I mean, he has a crush on her wouldn’t he be ...over the moon to do that with her?”

“Yeah Sensei, ever since he got back, he hasn’t said much of anything to us!” Raph said.

“What exactly did you see?” The rat stroked his beard.

“Well” Donnie began, “we were worried about where Leo was, and he wasn’t answering his T-Phone. So we tracked his phone. It showed him being in The Shredder’s hideout, that church”

“But not in an area we’ve ever been.” Raph added.

“So we decided to stake it out, see if we could get an inside look” Donnie continued “And we saw Leo in a room with Karai, he was holding her, and she had nothing but a T-shirt and underwear on”

“Anything else?”

“Well at the angle we were looking in, we couldn’t see the whole room, but at one point she slides over and we saw Leo get in bed with her” Donnie paused “but then he turned off the lights”.

“We stayed for like 4 hours waiting for him to leave too Sensei!” Mikey exclaimed “But he was still there!”

“Yeah, he probably got back in the sewers just before daybreak” Raph guessed.

The rat looked up, and so did the rest of the turtles, still a bit damp from his shower Leo stood before them tying his mask. “Care to add to this story Leo?” Splinter asked his eldest son.

“No, I was just going to tell you it from the beginning actually.”

* * *

“Turn off the light would you?” Karai asked lazily. Leo obliged and with much fiddling managed to turn the lamp off.

He had met Karai halfway. She was laying under the covers next to him, and he was laying on top of the covers next to her. He listened to her breathing. He stared into the dark room. This was a weird night and Leo has had some really weird nights.

Karai was asleep now, but Leo wasn’t sleeping tonight. The fact was he knew what had happened. He knew what The Shredder did to Karai. Leo also knew the blood running down from between her legs wasn’t from those reproductive things, he knew it was Shredder’s work.

It all made sense, why she could hate her father so much. Leo was also mad at her for using him and his brothers, but could he really blame her? The more he stewed over it the more puzzle pieces came together. The towel, the nonchalant attitude about all of this. The uncaring sarcasm. Karai has been through this before, more than once, and likely alone.

The night ticked on, occasionally he checked his T-Phone for the time, and ignored the twenty eight missed calls. At one point in the night Karai gently grabbed his forearm in her sleep. He didn’t move his arm away or put her arm back on her “side” of the bed. Time moved faster after that and Leo found himself dreading the morning, dreading having to leave her. The storm became a light drizzle, but the sky was still covered in gray clouds.

So when morning threatened, Leo with great reluctance got out of the bed. “Hey Leo?” Karai mumbled.

“Yeah?” Leo said, almost sad he wasn’t able to slip out of here unnoticed, it will be harder to leave now.

“I’m not really that good about saying thank you” she started.

“And?”

“That was it” She smiled at him. Leo smiled back. “Will you come back tomorrow?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Will my answer change whether or not you do?”

Leo placed a finger on his chin and tapped, pretending to think before saying “Nope!”

“Well, I’ll accidentally leave the bathroom window unlocked then”.

* * *

The rat noted how calm his son explained himself. He didn’t raise his voice or even deny having sex with Oroku Saki’s daughter, he just recounted the events. Leonardo was a great leader, he was mature for his young age of fifteen and he was usually honest. However Leo’s honesty was maybe less of a personality trait and more of a result of Leo being a horrible liar.

His son only varied his voice and tone when it came to the embarrassing parts. Such as having to catch the half naked kunoichi, or the comments she made to make him feel awkward. Maybe it was having raised Leo since before he could even speak that he had come to learn about his son is Leo knows he can’t lie. So when Leo can’t tell the truth in place of lying he doesn’t say anything at all. Which is why the rat hypothesized in his own mind, that when Leo’s highly detailed retelling of his time with Karai only specified she was “hurt”, there was something Leo was simply not saying.

“Wait so you are going to see her again tonight!?” Raph asked, less concerned with all the parts of Leo’s story before this point.

“Yes” Leo said calmly, “I think I can establish some actual trust here.”

“Why?” Raph rubbed his temples “because you half carried her to bed and sat there all night like a watchdog?”

“Yeah, Leo, come on ...Karai is a kunoichi” Donnie interrupted gently “how do you know she isn’t using you?”

“Wait how exactly did Karai get hurt?” Mikey asked confused.

“She uh- “ Leo was now in the spotlight “Uhhh that’s uh very good question Mikey, she was hurt at the docks.”

Mikey pouted “But she was fine whe-”

The rat closed his eyes, hiding a smile, Mikey will miss the obvious and lock in on the abstract. “My sons, I would like a word with Leonardo” Splinter butted in. All four of his sons looked back at him unmoving.

“Let me clarify, I would like a word with Leonardo, alone” he amended. And at that he watched the three younger turtles shoot Leo a sympathetic look and leave the living room. They headed in the direction of Donatello’s lab.

Leo broke the silence “Sensei, before you uh get angry, I just wanted to say I am sorry that I went to Shredder’s hideout alone” he twiddled his fingers, “without telling anyone...or leaving a note.” Leo said this not really making eye contact.

“Hmmm, well that is a matter for another time, Leonardo” Sensei stood up and gestured for Leo to follow him. Together, they walked out of the lair into the sewers.

“Sensei?”

“It is just a walk, away from three sets of ears we both know are going to try and listen” Sensei smiled down at Leo, and was given a small smile in return. They paced in silence for a while. Their feet quietly padding against the wet cement until they were far enough from their home for Leo to finally speak up.

“Uh, Sensei?”

“I would like to tell you a story Leonardo” the rat said, still looking ahead where he was walking. “Because you have told me a story.”

“Sensei, I wasn’t lying abo-”

The rat turned and raised a hand “Stories can be true, but….” he turned and continued walking.

“...but what?” Leo quickly returned to walking next to his father.

“But, I am going to leave out the same parts you did.”

* * *

“If you had kept your mouth SHUT, we wouldn’t be in this Mikey!” Raph’s anger had gone from Leo to Mikey, it has to go somewhere.

“Hey, had you told me outside that Leo was-” Mikey quickly looked around and then whispered “-having sex-” he cleared his throat to regular volume “I would have yelled it outside away from Sensei and his fluffy ears” Mikey crossed his arms.

Raph rubbed his forehead. Opened his mouth and closed it a few times before Donnie joined in.

“Look, regardless, Leo is now in trouble thanks to us. And it sounds like he was just being nice to Karai.”

“You mean going off on his own into Shredder’s base, alone, with no back up, alone, so he could be the hero, alone, right?” Raph snapped.

“You said alone a lot, I counted”

“That’s great Mikey, but that wasn’t the point, the point is leader boy goes off alone quite a bit”. Raph sighed “but he doesn’t deserve to get chewed out by Sensei over it”.

“I think-” An alarm blared from a desk lamp on Donnie’s desk making all three of them jump and Raph scream.

“Oh yes!” Donnie grabbed the device, which now appeared to be not a desk lamp but a small satellite dish connected to a base, and the base was plugged into Donnie’s computer.

“What is it D?” Mikey leaned over the device.

“A while back I attached trackers to fish and released them into the Hudson river” Donnie said typing frantically on his computer.

“Uh…” Raph and Mikey said in unison.

“Well not only was it difficult, most of the trackers stopped working after a month but it appears number 391 got into the bay…” Donnie kept typing.

“Wait you tagged 391 fish??” Raph said slightly impressed but mostly horrified.

“What? Don’t be ridiculous, I tagged 2000- oh here it is” Donnie turned the screen so his brothers could see “looks like it was worth the effort because we got a Krang submarine on video!”

“2000 fis- wait why are we concerned with Krang subs?” Raph asked.

Donnie happily started to explain “Great question Raph, you see I have this running theory that the Krang are trying to get as many Krang soldiers and ships on earth BEFORE an invasion”.

“And?” Raph urged.

“Well what better place than in a bunch of murky water!” Donnie was giddy.

Raph was still confused “wait but that just tells us there is a sub not where it is.”

“No the tracker had a magnet, those Krang ships use iron in excess” Donnie said excitedly.

“Dude” Mikey said somberly “so you just attached an innocent fish to a Krang sub?”

“It’s for the greater good Mikey.” Donnie shrugged.

* * *

“I know you are happy that you attached Goldy to a s-”

“-Fish #391!” Donnie interrupted.

Raph moaned “-Fish #391 to a sub, but this is a bad idea”

“Wow Raph you are starting to sound like Leo!” Mikey teased. They were running across buildings in broad daylight. Raph shot back his best “I will pummel you” scowl. This is not where he wanted to be at 10am in the morning.

“Look Raph, this is are chance to catch an inside look at where the Krang are! We can’t pass that up!” Donnie was running ahead of them.

He had promised Spike he'd read him the next issue of Wolverine. Instead he was chasing idiots.

“Yeah- But- We should have waited for Leo!” Raph yelled ahead.

It had been a losing battle from the start. Once Donnie was too impatient to wait for Leo to return from his chewing out with Splinter he set out to quickly go check on the sub. Mikey was easily convinced to go with Donnie. Raph had two choices, stay and wait for Leo while his two little brothers ran off to the other side of the city. And then subsequently get chewed out by Leo and Splinter. Or, he could chase after them and get chewed out for leaving with them.

He chose to chase after them. He also now really regretted chasing after them. Raph’s gut was in a knot. He told himself it was the fact that Leo wasn’t here with them. But the feeling stayed.

It stayed until Raph heard a crack rip the air and in a second he had pushed Mikey hard to the ground. He felt the pain before he registered what it was.

“RAPH!” Donnie yelled from yards ahead.

Raph pushed himself up, only to feel a hand grab the top of his shell and throw him off Mikey.

“Look what we have here” the man spat.

“Get away from him!” Mikey side swept the man and from behind another man jumped on Mikey’s back. Raph was up in an instant grabbing the second assailant and getting his sais out.

There was another crack and Raph snapped his head to see Donnie against two guys, trying to keep their guns aimed away from him and his brothers. Raph wanted to yell retreat, to yell anything. But he couldn’t think straight.

There were more men now. There had to be fourteen men. Raph slammed his sai into the ear of one man and yanked it out, slick with blood. He didn’t have time to think about it. He heard Mikey cry out and turned in time to see his brother hand was being threaded by a long machete. He turned to run to Mikey and a crowbar met his face.

* * *

“No...nonononoooo”

His head felt like it was being squashed.

“Raph p-pl-pleeaaase” someone sobbed.

It was hard to breathe.

“R-Raph” the sobbing was on his chest now. “Raph w-we have t-t-to go now!”

* * *

Raph blinked and saw nothing.

“Raph!” Mikey’s voice was on his face. “Raph! Say something!”

“Uhhhg something” Raph gurgled out.

Mikey was whimpering “Raph please get up we have to get home”

“What happened?” Raph’s vision started to adjust, they were in an alley, it was still light out...but it wasn't morning anymore.

“Th-they they took Donnie!” Mikey started sobbing.

Raph was confused now “Who took Don-” his voice caught in his throat. Mikey was covered in blood. Not a few streaks here and there, he was a sticky brownish red and his mask was off “Mikey why are you covered in blood!?” Raph started to stand up every part of him screamed in protest. “Fuck”

“Raph w-we got separated.” Mikey was holding onto one of Raph’s upper arms trying to steady him. “You got whammied”

“I- What? Who?” Raph was glad Mikey was holding him up. He was covered in blood too and his head...no his brain, it was about to squeeze out his ears.

“Those men th-they hi-” Mikey’s voice was still shaking.

“OH FUCK MIKEY!” Raph cried. He’d found what happened to Mikey’s mask. It was tied tightly around the turtle’s arm above the elbow, below was the machete still embedded deep through his hand and into his forearm.

Mikey looked to his arm “I know I t-tied it off i-it doesn’t hurt so bad now th-though” he sobbed out.

“We have to get home now, Mikey!” Raph grabbed his little brother closer to him, protectively.

Mikey looked up at Raph and choked out “I have b-been saying that to you for hours man!”

“I know, I know.” Raph squeezed Mikey closer “We’ll get home” Raph looked around. _ How am I going to get us home? _ “A-and we’ll get Donnie back” He rubbed the back of Mikey’s shell, attempting to comfort him, trying not to cry. _ Where was Donnie even? _

* * *

It had not been easy getting this far. Raph had more immediate medical issues than he first realized. One of his eyes was completely swollen shut, and the other was starting to swell shut. According to Mikey there was a bullet lodged in the back of his shell. He could guess he had a concussion as well even though there was no visual confirmation.

Mikey supported one of the worst machete wounds Raph could have imagined, luckily the culprit was still in Mikey, probably helping him not bleed out. Along with a few gashes on his shell. Mikey was also holding Raph up for the most part with his good side.

The walk, well limp, back home was long and painful. And both turtles thoughts were more with Donnie than themselves. They had to get home, for Donnie.

Raph’s T-Phone was missing. Mikey never brought his. They assumed Donnie had his on him. But that was no use in the current moment. They tried to keep each other talking. Raph tried to make Mikey tell him everything, because he was still foggy on the details. But his little brother was fading fast. He kept walking, but stopped responding.

When they were only a minute away from home Mikey collapsed.

Raph sat down next to him and pulled him close. “Mikey, come on just...just a little further”

Mikey didn’t respond.

Raph start yelling for Leo and Sensei.

* * *

The Shredder opened the back of the van, inside was the unconscious merchandise, in it’s green flesh and hard shell.

“Well are you satisfied?” The man asked.

“Yes, this is what I asked for.” The Shredder looked down at the turtle. “Tiger Claw, pay the man.”

The man stepped forward. “Deal’s changed Saki.”

“Oh, it has?”

“Yes. The red one killed one of my men, and the orange one killed four and put one out of work for good”

“This is my problem how?” The Shredder stared down at him.

“I just lost six of my guys, for 100 grand? It’s 500 grand now, your freaks had more teeth than you said.”

“I see” The Shredder thought for a moment “and what condition did you leave the red and orange one in?”

“Red is dead. Orange dragged him off” The man examined his nails for a second “but the injury orange has...well it’ll at least take his arm, if not his life.”

The Shredder smiled under his mask. “Hmm, well then I guess the deal has changed”.

Shredder made arrangements with the man to pay him 400 grand, 100 grand today and the rest of the payment to be delivered at a later date.

As Bradford drove the van back to the church, Shredder kneeled over the young turtle and quickly found what he was looking for. He unclipped the T-Phone from the purple ones belt and took it.

When they arrived back to the church Shredder ordered an interrogation room be set up, he watched with satisfaction as his henchmen grabbed the purple one roughly and took him deep into the basement of the church.

Shredder headed to his daughter’s room, it was time for her to get to work. She did have quite a fascination with the freaks.

* * *

Leo hugged his dad “Thanks Sensei.”

“You have a good heart, my son.” The rat said as he hugged Leo back.

When they returned to the lair Leo was in a much better mood. Sensei had offered some really good advice about how to help people who had been “hurt at the docks”. Some of it was from the Master’s own experience, which made it all the more valuable. Leo was relieved that his father had been so understanding about it.

Leo immediately went to tell his brothers that he was not in trouble. But they were nowhere to be found.

“Hey Sensei, did the guys say they were going somewhere?” Leo found his father in the Dojo.

“No, not that I recall. Why do you ask?”

“I can’t find them anywhere.” Leo said now concern brushing the outskirts of his voice. _ This wasn’t like them. _

“Perhaps they went skateboarding in the sewers?” Sensei suggested.

“Maybe…” Leo trailed off and left the Dojo. Unease resting in his chest.

Unease evolved into full blown anxiety when four in the afternoon hit with no signs of his brothers. Sensei also looked distraught. To be gone for a few hours was one thing, seven hours was pushing it. Leo called Raph, Donnie, and Mikey repeatedly. In that order.

“_ Yo, the pizza king has missed your ring! Leave it at the ding! *beep* _”. Leo hung up, he had left a message the first time.

_ He cycled back to the beginning and called Raph “Wait what am I supposed to say? … A what mail? Why?... Well that’s stupid. *beep* _” Leo hung up. Bile boiled in his chest. This is a prank right? Taste of his own medicine right?

He called Donnie. _ Please pick up _ . “ _ You’ve reached Donatello, leave a message after the tone and I will get back with you as soon as I can! *beep* _” Leo slammed the phone down.

He dialed Mikey again, and he felt a paw on his shoulder “Leonardo, that won’t help”

“I know Sensei but it’s all I can do they could be anywhere!” Leo looked back at his phone ready to hang up as soon as Mikey’s voicemail started. But the silence was broken when a distant ringing filled the lair.

“The Cheese Phone!” They both said in unison, both sprinted to the phone. Sensei picked up on the third ring.

“Hello?” Sense said clinging to the phone. Leo was as close as he could get to the phone trying to hear who was on the other end.

“Ah my old nemesis, Hamato Yoshi” The Shredders voice seethed through the receiver.

“What have you done with my sons!?” The rat demanded.

“If you want your son alive, you will come to the docks, tonight in five hours. Alone”

“What have you done to-” but Sensei cut off his own sentence when he heard the receiver click.

Leo looked down “What do we do?”

Sensei looked down at Leo “Well let’s start with what we know”

“What do we know exactly?”

“He has one of them, so where are the other two?” Sensei pondered this. “How do we pull up the thing that tells us what number last called?”

“Uh….I am not allowed to touch appliances.” Leo said and when Sensei looked at him weirdly Leo continued “I am cursed. I break everything. Especially the toaster”

Sensei sighed then looked at the cheese phone “Okay new plan, let’s get some blueprints of the docks, work out a plan of attack.” Sensei’s left ear twitched.

“Sensei?”

“Leo hurry this way!” The rat was running out of the dojo now, Leo at his heels.

And now Leo heard it. The hollars. The begging. It was Raph’s voice, broken and raw.

And scared.

* * *

Karai stood before Donnie, slightly relieved it was Donnie not Leo.

Not that it made torturing Donnie any easier.

“You have to let me go!” Donnie was in hysterics. “I saw his arm, I’m the closest we have to a doctor he’ll die without me!”

Karai sat down on a chair across from Donnie, she was reading a menu. “Hmmm, …..that’s cool” she looked up at him to see his mouth open with tears streaming down his face. “So do you want anything from Tony’s?”

“My baby brother is going to die!” Donnie squirmed in the chair rocking it back and forth.

“Is that all you are going to say?” She flipped through the menu nonchalantly “What the hell is a calzone?”. She couldn’t pretend to enjoy this, but she could fake not giving a shit.

“You bitch! Do you enjoy the fact that he’s dying in some alley right now?” Donnie was spitting now.

“Jeez, look just go to the pet store and get a new baby brother” Karai smirked.

Donnie just bowed his head and stared at the floor “If he dies, you’re next” his voice was cold and it would have been scary had it not been for the mutant’s sobs.

Karai clutched her heart dramatically “oh how sweet, you love your baby brother so much!” She threw her head back and cackled. “Oh if that little ginger brat could see you now, what’s her name... May?”

Donnie shot a look at her “Don’t you even dare speak about April!”

“Oh I’m sorry” Karai stood up and walked over to the restrained turtle. “April” she stood uncomfortably close to Donnie, she reached down and pet his face gently.

“Get the hell away from me.” Donnie seethed. Trying to jerk his head away from her.

Karai stuck out her bottom lip “What, would this make April jealous?” she now moved to straddle Donnie “I can give you something she can’t…”

“Get the hell off me you bitch!”

Now she wrapped her hand around the tie of his mask and yanked it you the side before pressing her lips against the side of his head.

Donnie breath hitched a little.

“Call me the most offensive thing you can, make it believable” She whispered fast. He couldn’t respond before she continued “You want to save your brother?”

It clicked, he knew what she was trying to say.

“Did your mother teach you that?” Donnie sneered. Karai leapt off of him.

“How dare you!” she bellowed. She slapped him hard across the face. “Shame, I was starting to enjoy you…” she pulled out a sharp knife and smiled at him.

Donnie gulped.

* * *

Leo and Sensei didn’t speak for the first hour. Only directions to each other on where to apply pressure. Where to put antiseptic. Where to stitch.

Mikey was unconscious, his breathing was low, they couldn’t remove the machete. Donnie could, but even Sensei didn’t have the medical knowledge on how to deal with such a serious wound.

Leo didn’t know when April showed up but thank god she did.

She was fast at work helping where she could, her hands shook, but her face remained stern. Even when Raph whined at Leo that they took Donnie.

It felt like only minutes had gone by but Leo’s hands were now placing a new cold cloth on Raph’s head. Mikey had woken up now. But he wasn’t making much sense.

“I think I think” he kept restarting his sentence.

April was by him, trying to use the best mother hen voice she had “Shhh Mikey it’s okay, you’re gonna be okay”.

It was 8:30pm when Leo was finally convinced it was okay to leave April sitting between the two cots, her left hand gripping Raph’s right hand, her right hand gripping Mikey’s left hand.

Mikey was going to lose his right arm.

Leo wanted to scream at the world for taking his brothers arm. But he had to compartmentalize. Two brothers safe. One brother in the wind.

The plan was simple, because they no longer had the luxury of planning out every move. Sensei would meet Shredder, alone.

Leo had to do something more important, as much as it physically pained him not being able to back up his father.

He had to rob an ambulance.

“My son, do not worry about me, I will get Donatello home to us” Sensei saw Leo’s still unsure expression. “We are not equipped to deal with Michelangelo's situation”

“I know, Sensei” Leo stiffened and took a deep breath “When Donnie comes home he’ll need the equipment to save Mikey”.

Sensei nodded.

Before they left Leo found Mikey’s T-Phone and gave it to April.

“I will text you as soon as I have the stuff from the ambulance” he was trying to keep his voice calm “we’ll get Donnie back”

“I know Leo” she said, still holding strong.

Leo turned to leave the lab now med bay but stopped at the door and looked back. April was rubbing circles gently on Mikey’s good arm as he quietly whimpered. He owed her for this. “And April, thank you for doing- for being here with them- thank you”.

“Your welcome Leo, now go! I got this.”

* * *

Leo hadn’t slept in his bed for over a week now. He’d opted to sleep on the floor every night next to the cot Mikey slept on. Admittedly Mikey had improved greatly. He’d survived the crude amputation of his right forearm. He spent the next few days drifting in and out of consciousness. He’d wobble from cracking jokes to sobbing quietly when he thought none of his older brothers could hear. Donnie would change the bandages everyday with gentle care. Raph, once the swelling in his eyes went down, would read comic books to Mikey and Spike. If one managed to sneak into the room without him knowing, Raph could be heard doing the voices of all the various characters. Their father talked to Mikey about warriors who had lost limbs, and tried to console Mikey over the loss of his arm.

What worried Leo was the fact that Mikey seemed more upset that he had killed people saving Raph. It ate away at his little brother’s conscious. Raph had also taken a life that night, but he wasn’t taking it as harshly as Mikey.

Sensei had taught them from the beginning that killing was something you carried with you for life. A weight on your very soul that would follow you into your own grave. 

Killing was the last resort to any conflict.

“Hey, you’ve been sleeping on this floor for eight nights” Donnie said as Leo was making his spot next to Mikey’s cot. “Let me have tonight, go sleep in your bed”.

Leo was about to argue but he’d be lying if he said his shell wasn’t sore “Okay, Donnie. Thanks.”

Leo did go to his room, but not with any intent of staying. He wanted to talk to Karai, especially after what Donnie had told him once Mikey was stable. He was certain now that she was on their side. Leo, for Donnie’s sake, swallowed the concern that clawed inside his chest for Karai. The stunt she pulled by sneaking Donnie a blade so he could escape with Sensei mid hostage transaction was ingenious. It was also extremely stupid of her.

The night Leo spent with Karai, what she did for Donnie, and the fact that it worked was enough to have Sensei agree that Karai could perhaps be brought to their side. Raph, despite himself, also admitted that there was a chance the brat wasn’t trying to deceive them. Though, only Sensei and Leo knew the other reason Karai wasn’t too keen about her father. Leo was also not planning on telling that detail to his younger brothers, not yet at least.

In the back of his head he knew that Karai was in trouble. But aside from Sensei, Leo was the only fighting part of this family currently not supporting some sort of injury. Raph’s concussion still had him walking closer to walls incase he became dizzy. Donnie had various bruises from his torture with Karai. Mikey was in the worst shape, still in pain from his missing limb and under a great deal of psychological trauma. To again, enter the Shredder hideout alone would be extremely stupid. He had no back up at the lair to come save him.

Leo crawled into bed, hoping Karai was okay, but knowing she wasn’t.

* * *

“Karai.”

Her eyes bolted open and her heart thudded painfully against her sternum.

“There you are” the Shredder was standing over her.

She wanted to kill him. She wanted to tear his throat out.

“Food” she croaked.

Nine days she had been in the dungeons. When she was first thrown in she huffed to the henchmen that her father was only scaring her into line. She refused to be scared, she spent day one pacing her cell. Then she called for water.

“Water?” the guard sneered at her through the bars “Water is only given every other day.”

“Do you know who I am? I’m The Shredder’s daughter! I demand water right now!” she barked at him. This was outrageous.

“Want water?” the guard pointed to the toilet in her cell “all you can drink!” he chuckled and walked away.

“Why you piece of shit! Wait until my father hears about this!”

Day two she was brought clothes to wear, sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

“I’m not putting those on” she crossed her arms over her chest “I’m fine with what I am in.”

“Suit yourself” the guard said with a smile. Karai went to the far side of her cell and sat down against the wall. She gave the toilet the side eye, thirst scratching at her throat. 

Her thoughts were truncated when the sound of the guard coming back, and he was dragging something.

“Alright, last chance, you can put on these” he again held the sweats between the bars “or you can get the hose.”

“Fuck off” Karai snapped, more on reflex than actual thought.

She was met with a spray of cold water. Ice cold water. It was a powerful stream, sharp pain erupted on her exposed skin. She gasped for air and water caught in her throat, she couldn’t stand up. Karai managed get her back to face the hose, but she was still on all fours. The water stopped.

“Oh no” the guard faked a sad tone “it appears you are cold and wet!”

Karai was still on all four coughing and shaking.

“Now wouldn’t you like to change into some dry clothes?” the guard again threaded the sweats through the bars “Come on Karai, stop fucking around and change.”

“Fuck.” She coughed “You.”

“Suit yourself!” he shrugged “alright, get her while she’s down” he motioned for some of the other guards to come over. They unlocked the door of her cell and Karai smirked. Only three she thought confidently.

The first man grabbed her by her upper arm and pulled her to her feet. Karai kicked his knees out from under him and lunged for the second man who dodged and caused her to slip on the wet cement. They dogpiled on top of her. Using their combined weight to hold her down. She cursed them as they undid her pants, ripped off her boots. They undid her chest plate and she fought to hard for them to get her shirt off, they resulted to cutting it off.

Once naked, and freezing the guards left. Karai looked expectantly at the guard holding the dry sweats.

“Oh you want these now?”

Karai didn’t answer.

“Speak up dear.”

“Yes”

“Well here you are then” he threaded them through the bars.

Karai stood up, shaking from the cold and grabbed the sweats from him. Humiliation burning on her face.

Day three Karai drank from the toilet, too thirsty to resist any longer. She was smart enough to drink from the tank, not the bowl. But the very thought made her empty stomach roll over. The Shredder said for acting like a shit, she should only get water from the toilet. She didn’t get a cup of water every other day.

Her sweats were damp, and she was freezing cold. Her fingers were numb. She stopped telling the guards her father was going to have their hands for this, she came to realize they were following his orders to the exact letter.

Day five her father visited her in the flesh, but he was drunk. He ordered the guards to go on break and he entered her cell with alcohol on his breath.

“Karai, come over here” he growled, she was sitting up against the wall of her cell.

He moved to the bed in the cell and sat down “Now” he said firmer. She obeyed. As tired as she was she walked over to him and stood.

“Kneel” he said putting his hands on her waist and pulling her down.

She obeyed.

“Would you like something to eat Karai” he said almost with care.

She whipped her head up and nodded. No food for the past five days, she was sick with hunger.

Her heart dropped when he undid his pants and pulled out his semi erect cock. “Then eat up.” he grabbed a fist full of her hair and pulled her closer to his penis.

Karai screamed internally. She grabbed his penis and started kneading it with her hands.

“That’s right, now put it in” he said tipping his head back enjoying the moment.

She put his cock in her mouth and he immediately tightened his grip on her hair and pushed himself in deep.

She started to choke, but as his now hard cock brushed deep in her throat he pulled her away by the hair and pushed her back in. Tears streamed down her face as he rubbed her dry throat raw, her chest burned from holding her coughs down. She started to taste blood.

Her luck did not change, on day six and seven she was again put through the same horror. She swallowed blood and semen, still no food was given to her. She began passing out, which in a sick way was a blessing. Sleep no longer brought her peace, even in her sleep her dreams haunted her.

* * *

Ten days after the ordeal, Sensei deemed Donnie and Raph surface ready. Ten days after the ordeal The Krang were already back in action.

Leo battled with the idea of asking Donnie if The Krang are all clones...or if they reproduce it other ways. He then decided he didn’t want to risk hearing a detailed explanation if it was the latter.

Sadly, the tracker Donnie had managed to get on the sub was either found or fell off. Maybe it was for the better. They could handle some areas of a flooded sewer, but underwater battling (as badass as Leo could imagine it being) was not going to go in their favor. Hard enough to fight The Krang without having to look down as well.

Confrontations with the suits were all the same. They stole something, and when caught would easily sacrifice a few of their own as distractions. Leo felt he was being gifted play things. The Krang dropped crumbs and ran off with the bakery.

Donnie says that’s a hivemind for you. They do what they have to for the greater good. The lives and well being of those left behind are disposable. Used up. Leo wondered if the Shredder thought Karai was disposable.

But he pushed that thought away, because he couldn’t think about it. Or he didn’t want to.

They started to find them, The Krang were getting lazy. Or too busy. They found brain aliens rotting in alleyways. Smelling like bleach and a tropical flower stirred together on the stove when they rotted.

_ Why are you not taking your dead anymore? _ Leo thought. Donnie was at a loss as well, defaulting to his theory that these Krang are more disposable. Raph didn’t give a shit.

* * *

2 months later

* * *

April brought them dinner Christmas Eve. Pizza wasn’t going to cut it she argued. (And no, Mikey, putting green and red jelly beans on a pizza didn’t make it a “Proper Christmas Dinner”)

Leo and Sensei helped April in the kitchen. Sensei was more fascinated with the western style of food, Leo wanted the numbing effects of April’s stories. She could drone on and on about her aunts and uncles on her father’s side. No family from her mom’s side she said, Leo didn’t question it then. April was safe in his mind. Her father was a prisoner of The Krang, his younger brother was head over heels for her, but she had a more normal life than any of them.

Leo yearned for that. Ever since Karai’s bathroom window was never unlocked. Two weeks without seeing her he panicked. Two months, and he told himself she was in Japan again.

Sometimes lying to yourself is easier.

“...she started following these blogs and twitter accounts that think the True Beings-”

“Twitter?” the rat repeated.

April scrunched her eyebrows “It’s like…” she turned to Leo before remembering he too was most likely oblivious “facebook? But only in little sentences.”

Two blank faces stared at her.

“Okay so you know the internet?” April tested the air.

Nothing registered with Leo but Splinter’s ears twitched “Yes, that is familiar, it was a hot button topic for a few years in Japan”.

“So you know what it is?” April asked hopefully.

“No.” he sipped his tea. April’s hopeful face melted.

“Wait, what are True Beings?” Leo interrupted. Her stories were innocent and easy to daydream in, but now there was meat. And he couldn’t resist.

April was rinsing potatoes now. None of them had ever had a potato. They looked like dusty rocks. “Right, back to that. Anyways I guess people have been finding these spirits that come to them and tell them truths about the beginning of life.” She brought the rinsed potatoes to the table and used a flat metal rod to take the dust off them (Donnie would later sigh and say she was peeling the skin off them) like it was a normal thing. “How the True Beings came to earth and experimented on apes to make humans. Freaky stuff. There are websites dedicated to it now.”

Leo didn’t know what websites were. Donnie talks about “the web”, Raph avoids any “web”.

“GUYS” Mikey busted into the kitchen with a smile wider than his shell, right hand tucked behind him. “Look what Donnie did to my arm!” he revealed his metal appendage, now decked out with green and red flashing lights.

“That's wicked Mikey!” April exclaimed walking over to him to get a better look.

Mikey excitedly showed off the different settings, which would flash the lights in different patterns. The Krang leaving more stuff around left a lot of usable tech for Donnie. He of course made his first robotic creation a replacement arm for Mikey. One and a half months later Mikey was nearly at one with his new arm. Now he had detachable holiday swag.

* * *

They watched the ball drop, and said goodbye to 2012. They had to watch through binoculars, but they saw it for real. Not through a screen. They saw it. And then they watched fireworks.

Mikey, still wasn't ready for fights, but he had missed the surface. So they would bring him back after the show. Leo saw April half listening to Donnie explain the science behind fireworks. Leave it to Donnie to explain the magic out of something like this.

Raph and Mikey excitedly pointed at the sky. Fascinated by the lights.

Leo just wanted to patrol after this.

* * *

“THIS IS AN EMERGENCY BROADCAST, PLEASE DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR TELEVISION”

“WE ARE THE TRUE BEINGS”

“WE ARE HERE TO RECLAIM THE PLANET WE CREATED”

“THIS IS AN EMERGENCY BROADCAST, PLEASE-”

“So ...think we should do something?” Raph looked over his comic book at Leo.

Leo's T-phone buzzed. He ignored it. Eyes glued to the TV. “Of course we should”. He got up, _ three days into 2013 and already shit has hit the fan _. “DONNIE” he yelled as he headed towards the lab.

“ON IT” Donnie replied. _ Maybe we’re a hive mind _ Leo mused silently.

It wasn't hard triangulating the broadcast. The TCRI was where this all originated from. So that was the target. Leo was already mapping out the plan. Sadly he couldn't do this with three. He needed four.

Mikey had to be in on this. They need Mikey. Leo needed all of his brothers.

April came to the lair while they were gearing up. She was brought up to date through snippets. They tried to give her the full story, but she also had to know they had no time to chat. The city needed them.

She asked about her dad, Leo made no promises, of course Donnie did. (He always did)

Raph grabbed Mikey and pushed him over to the side of the lair away from ears “Come ‘ere Mikey”.

Mikey looked at his brother searching his face “Dude, what?”

“You don’t leave my sight.” Raph said firmly.

“Wh-”

“When we go up” he gestured the ceiling “there, you don’t leave my sight. Got it?”

Mikey understood what was happening now, he swallowed the urge to argue it. “Yeah, but you know Leo said I was good-”

“Leo said you were good because we can’t do it just the three of us. Leo’s say means shit. Don’t leave my sight.” Raph looked down and then walked away.

“That’s harsh” Mikey said under his breath.

* * *

“I’m not very good at saying goodbye either.” the text was short, and from a burner. She debated how well she could trust a text to send from a shitty burner phone in Japan all the way to New York City.

She sipped her tea outside on the balcony. It was mid morning in Japan, but in New York it was evening. Leo should have been up for a few hours by now. She hoped it was cryptic enough that only Leo would understand. She turned the burner over and ripped out the SIM card. She tossed the phone over the balcony and into the woods. She stepped back into the house and flicked the SIM card into the fireplace. There was no such thing as too careful.

* * *

Leo thought jumping out of the 30th story window of the TCRI was the most dangerous thing he’d done on impulse.

That was until while all four of them were B-lining for the one escape pod off whatever-the-hell this-krang-ship-sphere is, Mikey slipped.

Mikey, the one brother who didn’t have full fluid motion in all his limbs.

Slips.

And before any of them can barely register that Kraang Prime already is staring down at their baby brother.

“Get away from my brother” Leo shouts, turning on his heel to defend Mikey.

Kraang Prime falls back, long enough for Leo to help Mikey up. Raph and Donnie are already in the escape pod.

Their father’s words about self sacrifice swam into his mind. He spears two of Krang Prime’s arms with his sword and holds the cyborg alien brain back. His muscle ache, he’s only buying his brothers a few extra seconds.

The last thing he sees is the escape pod flying away and Raph’s betrayed expression peering through the glass before the world goes dark.

The very next thing he sees is the flyer for 25% of Kleenex brand tissues at select retailers. Leo sits up slowly. Taking in his surroundings. He’s on a very littered shore, miles of trash. _ The flyer has many friends it seems. _ His heart jumps into his throat.

_ It’s day. _

_ Not daybreak. _

_ Not twilight. _

_ It’s day-day. When the day is most day. _

Leo’s horrible ability to put into words just exactly how screwed he was aside, he needed to get home. “Home ...t-phone!” he mumbled to himself. He felt sluggish.

He fumbled with it. _ Why was I holding my t-phone again? _ He frowned.

_ Right. Home. Call Raph. _

“Raph?” he slurred. _ Why am I slurring? _ “I don’t know where I am” … “Uh…a shore?” … “There’s litter” … “Okay”

He felt a drop hit his leg while talking, he looked down and saw more on the front of his shell. _ Why is the rain red? _ He looked up at the clear blue sky. _ Weird. _

* * *

_ Don’t pick at them _ . Leo thought, hand inches away from his stitches.  _ Don’t. Donnie will be mad _ . At that moment, Donnie walked into the kitchen. Drinking in the scene.

“Leo I swear if I have to put those stitches in a fourth time…”

Leo slowly, while maintaining eye contact with his brother, gently put his hand back down on the table. “What do you want Donnie?”

“For you to not pull out your stitches?”

“That’s why you came in here?” Leo feared for a second that Donnie had a “stitch sense”, and maybe knew he was about to rip the itchy string out. Again.

“No, I sadly lack a sixth sense that warns me when my patients are being stupid” Donnie glared at Leo and he looked away from him, shame dusted on his cheeks “I am here to give you this back” he slid Leo’s t-phone to him.

“Oh” Leo turned it over, it looked like new “Thanks Donnie, I didn’t even know it was gone.”

“Well, yeah, that’s a concussion for you. I fixed the screen, and got the water out of the speaker.”

“Do you think-”

“Raph is ever going to speak to you again?” Donnie finished Leo’s sentence for him. Leo stared for a second before Donnie replied with a calculated “Yes.”

“Yes? I feel like there’s a ‘but’ in there, D” 

“Well, I mean, he’ll talk to you again. Maybe in a few days, or years” Donnie was enjoying this. “Look I have to get back to the lab, April and I are currently posting in chat rooms trying to collect stuff on those True Beings”

With that Donnie left Leo alone in the kitchen with his T-phone. Leo pocketed his phone without turning on the screen or checking to make sure Donnie didn’t change his screensaver from the cast of Space Heroes. 

* * *

April had been spending more and more time in the lair, not that anyone minded. Donnie especially didn’t mind. Less than half a year ago, April was just some girl they felt obligated to save and now she was a staple in their lives. Even Splinter had a fondness of her presence. 

Now it was normal to see her and Donnie bent over different computers, writing notes and pinning various important snippets to a board in Donnie’s lab. Raph and Mikey took every opportunity to tease Donnie about having April in his lab so much. When April wasn’t there, they’d both refer to her as “his girlfriend”, and everytime Donnie would take the bait and defend himself. 

“We’re just friends!” he had whine.

“It’s just research” he had insisted.

Raph and Mikey would snicker and snicker.

They didn’t do that with Karai, though. Mostly because she went missing, and no one had seen her since the hostage transaction. Which was disconcerting.

And because the one time they did Leo went for a walk and didn’t come back for five hours.

Which had been a troubling five hours for his three younger siblings.

Of course this all made Donnie teasing target number one. After the fifth time of making a surprise appearance in the lab, Raph and Mikey were forced to deem them nerds. Not once did they catch any make out sessions. Or games of spin the bottle.

Perhaps the chick flicks on TBS weren’t an accurate depiction of teenagers. Not that Raph will ever admit to watching those, however Mikey will shamelessly admit he has watched Mean Girls four times. 

“I mean don’t get me wrong, Donnie, I’m glad to have my dad back….” April bit the bottom of her lip “It’s just he’s so damn annoying.”

They had posted on four different online messaging boards, and were now just waiting for someone to reply. Which left them to sit in silence while Donnie tinkered with something and April abused the F5 key on her bulky laptop.

Looking up from a blueprint of what looked to be a robotic right forearm Donnie asked “Annoying how?”

“Annoying like this” she showed him the home screen of her phone. It read 20 new texts, and 3 missed calls. “If I don’t text my dad every hour, on the hour about where I am, he freaks.”

“Oh so his worry for you is going over the usual since getting back?” Donnie said turning back to his blueprint. “Nah, I don’t think that makes you ungrateful. I could see how it would be annoying to be helicoptered”.

“Well, thanks Donnie” she scrolled a little through the boards “so how’s Raph and Leo?”

“Still not on talking terms”

“Wow day four and still not talking? I don’t understand why?”

Donnie sighed “Because Mikey wasn’t mission ready blah blah blah Raph is mad Leo put Mikey on the mission blah blah blah Raph is mad Leo did that hero bull crap he always does blah blah blah Leo is a bad leader” he rubbed his eyes. “Basically Raph is mad at Leo for going full Leo, and Leo is mad at Raph for being mad at him, it’s a mess...but they’ll work it out. They always do.”

April’s phone buzzed two times in a row. She rolled her eyes “I have to get going. Sorry Donnie, my dad is freaking out and wants me home by nine” she started packing up her laptop and putting her coat on. Donnie jumped up to, to walk her to the lair entrance.

Walking past Raph and Mikey who were watching some movie in the main living area. Donnie stopped.

“Hey April, you know if your dad ever gets to be to much you can stay over for the night”

“That’s sweet Do-”

“I mean we don’t have a guest room really but you could sleep in my bed.” realization hit Donnie “I mean without me- of course, because I usually sleep in the lab”

“Tha-”

“N-Not that I don’t want to sleep in the same bed as you- that’s not what I meant- I mean as friends.”

There was snickering behind him now. Someone was pounding their fist on the floor.

“I didn’t think that’s wha-” April tried to slip in before Donnie kept talking himself into this hole.

“Okay good because I didn’t mean it like i was inviting you to sleep with me”

Muffled laughter filled the silence between him and April.

“Okay, I, thanks Donnie” she half smiled and turned to leave calling “Goodnight guys” over her shoulder.

Donnie stood frozen to the floor watching the empty entrance in front of him.

“Dude” Raph wheezed “That was painful to witness”. Mikey was still gasping for air, he resigned himself to just pointing at Donnie while rolling on his shell.

* * *

The stitches came out and Leo was left with a now healing scar that went from just above his left eye back towards his ear. It was about three inches long. Luckily, given its location, his blue mask covered it completely. 

_ Not that I really care about beauty standards _ Leo told himself while adjusting his mask in the bathroom mirror.

He pulled out his t-phone and reread that text message from Karai. He had it memorized by now, he had only read it multiple times every single day since discovering it. Leo didn’t tell his brothers about the text. He did tell his Dad though. 

“Where are you?”  _ Message not sent. Tap to try again. _

* * *

It was mid January, the air was chilly and the city was still on edge from both the broadcast and the Krang invasion. On edge was putting it lightly. 

April had warned them that the National Guard was still in New York. Which makes sense, because even an anonymous letter saying “The Krang went away through portals back to their dimension” wouldn’t get past a secretary. Let alone convince a government agency that they won’t find shit.

“What a waste of taxpayer money” Raph would rant as another patrol of guards went by.

“You don’t pay taxes Raph”

“You know what I mean Donnie”

Patrolling wasn’t easy now. None of them wanted to catch a stray bullet, or be caught on the footage of a body cam.

That must have also been the reasoning of any criminals. So by four in the morning Leo called it.

“Let’s head back guys” Leo had been standing on top of a water tower looking around “Maybe we can help you Donnie, with the True Being stuff?”

“That’d be great Leo!” Donnie seemed excited then he squinted “Do you even know how to use a computer Leo?”

Leo tapped a finger to his chin before replying with a cheerful “Nope!”.

“I don’t know how to either.” Raph added.

“Mikey?” Donnie spun around to address his brother who was laying on the roof “How about you?”

“Oh sure D! Remember that human friend I made and then he turned out not to be my friend and actually a Shredder henchman?” Mikey laughed as his brothers cringed. “Yeah I can use a computer!”

“Okay great, Donnie and Mikey can work on that while Raph and I continue patrolling.”

“Wait why can’t we go home too, you already said this was a bust!” Raph was annoyed.

“What, are you going to miss Pitch Perfect or something?” Leo teased.

“I’ll give you a three second head start before I pummel you!”

Leo gladly took that head start.

* * *

Karai traced the edge of her mom’s face. This was one of two photos she had of her mother, they were both torn. She liked this one the most, it was of her mom smiling, a hand draped over her shoulders that she assumed attached to her father but instead disappeared into the ugly tear. The other photo looked more like a formal portrait, and though she was in that one as an infant, it was also a painful thought to think that was the last photo taken of her mom.

She put the photo back into her night stand drawer and changed into street clothes. What was the point of being back in Japan for an unknown stretch of time if she wasn’t going to enjoy herself? 

Her father was happy with her now, or maybe he wanted her to return to New York for other reason. Her stomach turned. She was not in a position to say no to an order. She would be 17 this year, not that age really mattered to Karai. She could easily get documents to forge herself a new older identity. Far from the reach of her father.

* * *

Donnie was spending Valentine’s day with April.

Well, if you could classify spending Valentine's day together as having April attend a True Beings Cult meeting while he sat in a tree watching a live feed.

It was a solo mission though, just the two of them, which was something.

“Okay April, remember to just keep yourself safe, it’s okay if we don’t see everything on the camera” Donnie said quietly into the mic.

On screen he could see a raised stage. 

“Attention!” a voice boomed over the crowd. Though there was no one on stage the lights turned on to reveal two people dressed in long cloaks.

_ Why do all cultists have the same outfit? _ Donnie mused to himself.

“Today, four new brothers and sisters join the inner circle.” On cue four people walked on to the stage, all looked young. April's age. 

Donnie's heart sank. “April, get out of there” he kept his voice steady. Something in his gut screamed this was bad.

April obviously couldn't respond verbally. The camera panned over to the door. It was shut, a bar across it with two guards. The camera slowly panned back to the stage.

Shit “Is there any other exit?”. April didn't respond. Instead she brought her attention to the stage. A cart with a sheet covering it had been rolled out. The crowd started stomping their feet. April played along, stomping.

One of the two men put his hands on the crate. “Here we have a true being!” The stomping continued. The sheet was pulled away to reveal a cage. Inside was a Krang alien. Naked.

His ( _ or her? _ April wondered) tentacles grasped the bars. It made a pitiful noise. A cry. The crowd went silent.

The two cloaked men pulled the Krang from the cage. It squirmed. Trying to escape. 

“Oh god Donnie…” April whispered into her com.

Donnie was glue to the screen as well. The pit in his stomach growing “yeah April, just keep it together, I know”.

April swallowed the lump in her throat as she watch the two cloaked men pulled one of the tentacles away from the Krang and pulled a knife from the cart.

“Would our first new brother take the knife please?” He held the knife out, a young boy with ginger hair and dark clothes grabbed the knife. 

“Cut it off, cut if off, cut it off” the crowd chanted. The boy approached the Krang, and began cutting off the tentacle. The Krang screamed and squirmed. The crowd cheered. 

April swallowed bile.  _ Remember what they do to people. Remember what they did to us. _

The boy held the now disembodied tentacle for the crowd to see. 

“Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!” The crowd chanted.

April closed her eyes.

* * *

“I hope Donnie is enjoying his date with April!” Raph yelled, landing a fist into a member of the Purple Dragon Gang.

“It’s not a date, they have a lead on that cult.” Leo was currently holding a purse out of reach of one of the gang members. 

The National Guard had left in the beginning of February, crime was back in full swing. The Purple Dragons decided to take a purse right in front of the turtles. Bad timing.

Once they decided the value of the purse was not worth fighting three green monsters, the gang members scattered.

“So...you want to put this purse on top on a cop car and go look for some more crime” Mikey asked swinging the purse in a circle around his metal arm.

Leo's phone buzzed. He reached for it immediately expecting a text from Donnie.

“So that's what you've been up to? Saving Grannies from New York punks” the text read.

_ Karai?  _ Leo snapped his head up, looking at roof tops.  _ Was she here? _

“Earth to Leo!”

Leo suddenly realized Mikey's metal arm waving in front of his face. 

“Sorry Mikey. Uh let's, let's find a cruiser to put the purse on” Leo started climbing a fire escape getting to the rooftops.

Raph made a screwed up face “Whoa whoa Fearless, what was that text then?”

“Yeah Leo, is Donnie okay?”

His brothers trailed behind him. He didn't want to tell them about Karai’s texts. “It was uh wrong number”. 

“Uh huh” Raph huffed. 

Leo's phone buzzed again. Leo grabbed it and read the text immediately.

“Oh you are a really bad liar. It's adorable”

Leo stopped so fast Raph ran right into him. “Dude, warn a turtle before braking like that”.

He didn't address Raph he just looked around.  _ You can see and hear me, so why can't I find you.  _

Two hands rocked his shell. “Leo?”

He felt numb. Karai was gone. She was in Japan. He wasn't going to see her again.

“Uh….” Raph looked at Mikey who shrugged. “I'm just gonna take this from you…” Raph took Leo's shell phone.

Leo didn't notice Raph taking his phone. His eyes were glued to the rooftops.  _ I wanted you to get far away from here. _

“Ah fuck” Raph passed the phone to Mikey. 

“Who is this?” Mikey asked.

Raph handed the phone back to Leo. “Karai probably”.

“She's texted me before”. Leo answered in a blank voice. “While I was recovering from my concussion”.

“What did she say?” 

“She said goodbye” Leo out his phone back on his belt. “Let's put this purse on a cruiser and check on April and Donnie”.

“You don't want to talk about this maybe-”

“No. Drop it, Raph” Leo's leader voice replacing the blank emotionless one. He started running across the rooftops again.

Raph and Mikey shared a glance at each other before running after their big brother.

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was awkward. Leo wasn’t sure what exactly had happened at The True Being cult meeting that had April so upset she slept in Donnie’s lab. He told Leo to drop it when he asked why she stayed the night, and why she looked so shaken up. Donnie promised a full explanation later.

“Hey D, my elbow makes a clicky noise, I think something is loose can you take a look later?” Mikey was clicking his elbow demonstratively for everyone at the table.

“How about after we walk April home?” Donnie said through a mouthful of toast.

Leo was currently staring at his tea, but he could feel Raph staring at him while the other three members of the table were in their own world. It felt like a second had passed and suddenly Only Raph and him were at the table. Leo’s breakfast still in front of him untouched.

**Author's Note:**

> You can read [The Chronicles of Karai Getting Her Shit Together](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14131329/chapters/32564856) if you want to see where I actually took this story upon rewriting.


End file.
